Connor Grossman

Neale Browning
Team: Kitten Blender
Colony Collapse Disorder

Colony Collapse Disorder is a problem that primarily affects honey bee colonies across
the world. Though there have been sporadic honey bee die offs recorded since the late 1800s,
Colony Collapse has become a persistent problem since late 2006. The intention of this paper is
to present information on honey bees, Colony Collapse Disorder, why it matters on a national
and local level, and possible ethical solutions to the issue. Honey bees are integral to the process
of food production for people, therefore the threat towards them could become a threat towards
humanity, and thus it is necessary for an ethical solution to be reached.
The most efficient honey bee in agriculture production is Apis mellifera, this is the
species that most would picturing when conjuring an idea of a honey bee. These are the most
common bees used in agricultural production because of how proficient they are in pollination
processes, which is slightly better than many other species of honey bees and increasingly
efficient over other bee species. Honey bees appeared early in history, first evolving into
themselves in the Cretaceous period. Indo-European honey bees began to speciate 30-45 million,
during a Pleistocene warming period this bee spread into Africa and Europe and become Apis
mellifera. The common honey bee was brought to America in the 17th century and beekeeping
became a viable position in the 19th century due to the invention of technology like box hives and

smokers. This non-native bee species has since become something that our country has come to
depend on for production of food.
Colony Collapse Disorder was first reported on in 2006 when beekeepers began to report
to loss of up to 90 percent of their hives. Coming to notice that honey bee populations began to
literally disappear from their hives. Alarm became the state of mind for those who understand the
implications of losing the world main pollination source. A report published in 2007 brought
reality to a poor situation when a related graph showed the steady decline of managed bee hives
in the United States from 1945 through 2005. (Packer) This issue brought the attention of many
to finding out the root and solution of the problem. The problem was deemed as Colony Collapse
Disorder, due to the vagueness of the cause to the problem. Explanations have been offered
ranging from cell phones interfering with hives, to genetically modified crops killing of bees
(which were dismissed by scientists. The research as of most recently has shown that there are a
number of causes actually at work in Colony Collapse Disorder, including pesticide use, pests,
disease, and other environmental and economic situations. It is most supported that pests and
pathogens are the primary causes for Colony Collapse Disorder. The mite known as Verroa
destructor which transmits infection to honey bees as it sustains its living on the bodies of honey
bees, and also gives them diseases such as the Kashmir bee virus. Research has also presented
that the Kashmir virus is communicable between bees, presenting reason for how it is that many
colonies collapse even if they are not largely infected with Verroa mites. Pesticides and
pathogens are blamed because many scientist find that these are explanations for the mass
amount of bee that leave the nest and never return. The bioaccumulation of pesticides could
confuse and weaken bees, as could a pathogen affecting motor skills. Whether it be pesticides,

pathogens, mites, or other causes, the solid fact of this situations is that honey bees have reached
a point where extinction is possible.
As previously mentioned, honey bees are integral to the production of food across the
world. In the United States, bee pollination is responsible for more than $15 billion in increased
crop value each year, (Kaplan) meaning the bees aid the production of crops in an alarmingly
large way. Crops such as tree-nuts, fruits, berries, and vegetables are nearly reliant on bee
pollination. In California, the almond industry requires the use of 1.4 million colonies of honey
bees, approximately 60 percent of all managed honey bee colonies in the United States.
(Kaplan) Zoologist and bee specialist Laurence Packer suggest that a threat to bees is a threat to
humanity due to the role these insects play in our planets ecology. His book Keeping the Bees
presents an idea of the world that could be if honey bees were to go extinct and humans were not
able to replace the work they provide. Laurence states, Without their (bees) unseen activities,
the world would be a far poorer place, aesthetically, ecologically, economically, and
nutritionally. (Packer) Many would also suggest that to maintain the population of honey bees is
a responsibility to mankind simply due to their intrinsic value in nature and as part of our
ecological environment. Whether it is the use to humans honey bees provide or the ethical pull
that worries a person, it is clear that it is necessary for an intervention should begin to attempt at
reconciling the problem posed by Colony Collapse Disorder and declining bee population.
There have been some possible solutions posed this far to combat the declination of
honey bee populations. The goal is to produce an ethical solution so we will evaluate a few of the
most ethical solutions to the problem that have been posed thus far, from simply planting bee
friendly flowers in your backyard, breeding honey bees and other bee species together through
scientific processes, or the beginning of breeding other bee species to replace the work that is

being lost with the decline of honey bees. The first solution is the simplest, if everyone was to
plant four to five bee friendly plants that would provide honey bees with the sustenance they
need to survive, perhaps their numbers will increase. This leaves out an actual solution for
Colony Collapse Disorder, though, and doesnt provide a true rise in populations since their
problem is not a lack of sustenance. Cross breeding of honey bees with bee species that are
resistant to Verroa mites and their pathogens is a potential solution to providing honey bees that
are resistant to problems associated with CCD. In the past Verroa mites have been manage
through acaricides but have evolved a resistance to many of the pest killing measures. Many
would not consider this an ethical solution, since it is manipulating the environment for the
benefit of humans. The potential solution/alternative that we suggest and support is the use of
other bee species, preferably native, as opposed to the non-native honey bee, to replace the loss
of pollination with the decline of honey bee populations. A local bee-farmer, Paul Beckman, has
been attempting this with the potential alternative of using the native blue orchard bee, a type of
mason bee, to pollinate crops. A blue orchard bee is a possible alternative to honey bees for
pollination purposes because they hunt for pollen, which is loosely carried on their thorax, as
opposed to honey bees, which hunt for nectar that is tightly woven within its legs. Blue orchard
bees are native to areas in Utah, and those dense in pine trees and sagebrush, which is a great
environmental basis for places like Idaho. There are downsides to the blue orchard bee such as
their fly range for sustenance is 500 yards, opposed to the five miles honey bees will travel. Also,
it takes roughly 1000 blue orchard bees to do the work of 400 honey bees, over double the
population. But if these blue orchard bees can be densely populated over a small amount of
acreage they could provide the work of the declining honey bees. According to the local farmer,
Paul, at a bee convention he attended research was released that showed adding 1000 blue

orchard bees to an acre with two hives of honey bees a farmer can increase his fruit yield from
34 % to 70 % of its potential growth. Other studies in various part of the nation have found that
native bee species could provide biologically provided buffers to the decline of honey bees as
pollinators. The study suggest that, in our region native bees will buffer potential declines in
agricultural production because of honey bee losses.(Winfree) Therefore an increasingly
possible alternative to the honey bee dilemma may to use native bee species as their replacement.
The use of native bee species as a buffer is more ethical than genetic splicing of genes, but
provides the unethical downside of ignoring the honey bees and colony collapse. The most
ethical solution would be to utilize the native bee species, perhaps blue orchard bees, in
conjunction with honey bees, while continuing research into preventing the further decline of
honey bees.
Through this paper the background of honey bees and colony collapse disorder have
presented the issue that we now face and how it is detrimental to our society if a solution is not
posed. Solutions have been evaluated and the conclusion we have reached is that the most ethical
solution would be to utilize native species in conjunction with the non-native honey bee to buffer
the loss of pollination provided by the honey bee. This, as well as ongoing research into the
prevention of Colony Collapse Disorder, could be the savior that our nation has been looking for.

References
Beckman, Paul. "Blue Orchard Bees." Personal interview. 2 July 2015.
Horn, Tammy. "Honey Bees: A History." New York Times. New York Times, 11 Apr. 2008. Web.
<http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/honey-bees-a-history>.
Kaplan, Kim. "Honey Bee Health and Colony Collapse Disorder." ARS.USDA. Web. 4 July
2015. <http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572>.
Packer, Laurence. "Buzz Free: A World without Bees." Keeping the Bees: Why All Bees Are at
Risk and What We Can Do to Save Them. Toronto,: HarperCollins, 2010. 1-15. Print.
Ratnieks, Francis L. W., and Norman L. Carreck. "Clarity On Honey Bee Collapse?." Science
327.5962 (2010): 152-153. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 June 2015.
Spivak, Marla. "Why Bees Are Disappearing." TEDtalks. June 2013. Web. 19 June 2015.
Winfree, Rachael, et al. "Native Bees Provide Insurance Against Ongoing Honey Bee Losses."
Ecology Letters 10.11 (2007): 1105-1113. Environment Complete. Web. 4 July 2015.